Satan’s taken many forms in fiction: John Milton’s tragic fallen angel; the popular cartoonish red horned dude with cloven feet; Ned Flanders in that Simpsons Halloween episode; and now… an ice cream seller?! I don’t know exactly why they made that choice, other than some kind of playful juxtaposition with the innocence of childhood, but so it goes with W. Maxwell Prince and Martin Morazzo’s pretty decent horror anthology comic, Ice Cream Man.
There are four stories here in four issues, each with an increasingly tenuous link to the Ice Cream Man. Prince either needed to give us more on the character or just drop the contrivance entirely - as it is, the character/framing device is very underwritten. And, while the book starts well, unfortunately each succeeding story gets progressively worse.
My favourite flavour was the first, about a weird kid whose best friend is a spider – but where are his parents? I liked the blend of dark humour and twisty storytelling – it’s a very imaginative and fun read. The second story is an unoriginal and predictable episode on the opioid epidemic currently gripping America as a pair of heroin addicts struggle to maintain their habits. It’s a well-written/told piece but not nearly as creative as the first and, if you’ve read enough stories about heroin addicts as I have, it’s as generic as you can get with this kind of tale.
The third story is about a one-hit wonder trying futilely to write another great rock song. If you accept that the Ice Cream Man is the Devil then the idea of selling your soul to become an amazing musician is an old one, most famously linked to the legendary Delta bluesman, Robert Johnson, so it’s an unoriginal concept. It’s a trippy episode with musical characters like Major Tom and Eleanor Rigby popping up but it’s largely pointless and unsatisfying.
The fourth story is even more so: a guy who’s thinking of skipping out on his pregnant wife meets his dead friend’s father who did something similar years ago and… they have a drink. It’s so utterly forgettable - honestly, I’ve had to remind myself twice now how that one ended. What a steep drop in quality from the first issue to the fourth!
Martin Morazzo’s art is quite good. He nails the horror scenes when he needs to and he shows versatility in drawing both stark realism and fantastical dream sequences with equal confidence. I don’t love his style but I don’t dislike it either.
It’s no must-read but if you’re after a mildly diverting mix of contemporary horror comics, Ice Cream Man, Volume 1: Rainbow Sprinkles has a few treats to tantalise those taste buds - lickety split!
There are four stories here in four issues, each with an increasingly tenuous link to the Ice Cream Man. Prince either needed to give us more on the character or just drop the contrivance entirely - as it is, the character/framing device is very underwritten. And, while the book starts well, unfortunately each succeeding story gets progressively worse.
My favourite flavour was the first, about a weird kid whose best friend is a spider – but where are his parents? I liked the blend of dark humour and twisty storytelling – it’s a very imaginative and fun read. The second story is an unoriginal and predictable episode on the opioid epidemic currently gripping America as a pair of heroin addicts struggle to maintain their habits. It’s a well-written/told piece but not nearly as creative as the first and, if you’ve read enough stories about heroin addicts as I have, it’s as generic as you can get with this kind of tale.
The third story is about a one-hit wonder trying futilely to write another great rock song. If you accept that the Ice Cream Man is the Devil then the idea of selling your soul to become an amazing musician is an old one, most famously linked to the legendary Delta bluesman, Robert Johnson, so it’s an unoriginal concept. It’s a trippy episode with musical characters like Major Tom and Eleanor Rigby popping up but it’s largely pointless and unsatisfying.
The fourth story is even more so: a guy who’s thinking of skipping out on his pregnant wife meets his dead friend’s father who did something similar years ago and… they have a drink. It’s so utterly forgettable - honestly, I’ve had to remind myself twice now how that one ended. What a steep drop in quality from the first issue to the fourth!
Martin Morazzo’s art is quite good. He nails the horror scenes when he needs to and he shows versatility in drawing both stark realism and fantastical dream sequences with equal confidence. I don’t love his style but I don’t dislike it either.
It’s no must-read but if you’re after a mildly diverting mix of contemporary horror comics, Ice Cream Man, Volume 1: Rainbow Sprinkles has a few treats to tantalise those taste buds - lickety split!
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